chronicles of an adventure seeker

July

What makes the world go around. Some say it doesn’t mean much… some say oh but it means everything.

First thing is first… (I’m the realest).

Kidding. Ok, first thing is first I need to wrap my own understanding on the word, money, for my own clarification, and for you as a reader.

I think money can buy time. I think it can symbolizes status and I think it is extremely powerful. I think it can be used for good and I think it can be used for evil. But these are all givens, lets dig deeper.

Since this is the year of my happiness project I kept disputing (before writing this post) whether “Money can or can’t buy happiness.”

Here in America we take for granted luxuries like clean water, running toilets, MASSIVE refrigerators, free transportation, and (Florida’s favorite) air conditioning. People in other countries could view these luxuries as part of their happiness, in terms of status.

I don’t want to dig too too deep on this concept but here’s a different way to view luxuries (or the lack of), on a more personal level.

The most humbling and precious moment I’ve ever experienced was when I gave two sisters a small piece of bread on the Lares trek in Peru. Their cheeks were rosy from the altitude and sun, their feet were muddy, pero sus sonrisas eran tan brillantes como el sol (but their smiles were as bright as the sun), they accepted the bread graciously and we embraced in a hug. Then, we took this photo.

During our last mile of the day I cherished my thoughts on how beautiful the resilience of the human spirit is. People who may seem to have nothing, carry the most beautiful soul inside them. Those girls are always with me where ever I go.

WOW.

SIDETRACKED. HI.

So July’s was… Purchase a little something.

If you know me you know I’m the most frugal person you will ever meet. My WEEKLY grocery receipt is usually 25 dollars. I’ll say that again. My weekly grocery receipt is usually 25 dollars. I haven’t been shopping for clothes in eons. I actually don’t really know what shopping is. I never get cash register happiness when I hand over my card. My mind isn’t like “Oh joy joy! Happy joy joy I’m spending money yay!” but more like a mini pep talk “Kara you need to ride your bike more instead of using your car and if you must go out tonight you can only buy one drink.” I’ve only made one online purchase before on my own dime and it was for books back in college (things people should not pride themselves on… but something I have so much pride in it’s insane). However, this does NOT APPLY to my travel and leisure spending (flights, tickets, transportation, hostals/hotels, tours, etc). Now this type of spending I’m a professional at. Really I am – I want to make a career out of it, I LOVE IT.

This month I don’t have 4 bullet points under my monthly word – I just wanted to do one nice thing for myself. Just one.

So I did what I do best, I planned a trip.

And in this order. I bought a flight. I RSVP’d to my cousins wedding. I applied for a credit card. Booked a rental car. Booked a nice hotel room. And I left on July 26th for a week in the Rocky Mountains. It was one of the nicest things I have ever done for myself. This trip will soon be up on my new website but for now please enjoy some photos from my most recent trip to Colorado BEAUTIFUL.